FC Bayern have to face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League, and sporting director Max Eberl had a curious way of gathering information about their opponents.
Max Eberl is looking ahead to FC Bayern’s Champions League clash against Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday with great respect. The sporting director made it clear that the traditional Portuguese club is anything but a pleasant opponent – and that an extremely demanding task awaits Munich.
Eberl obtained information about the opponent in a curious way – namely from the referee of the Bundesliga match between VfB Stuttgart and Bayern (0:5). Eberl explained: „Sporting have a very, very good team. To be honest, I spoke to the referee [Tobias Stieler] about it because Mr. Stieler refereed the match between Sporting and Bruges. And he said that they are a very, very good team.“
Eberl warns of Bayern clash against Sporting
For Eberl, it is clear that Sporting can be an equal opponent in the top flight. Bayern have repeatedly experienced in recent years how difficult duels with Portuguese top teams can be – most recently at the Club World Cup in the summer, when the German record champions lost 1-0 to Benfica Lisbon. „We know how games against Benfica go, and it will be no different against Sporting,“ Eberl continued.
Bayern are in third place in the Champions League table, with Sporting in eighth. The Munich side have so far beaten world champions Chelsea 3-1 in the top flight, then won 5-1 away at Paphos FC in Cyprus, beat Brugge 4-0 at home and won 2-1 at Paris Saint-Germain. They then suffered their first defeat of the season in their last Champions League game at Arsenal FC, which coach Vincent Kompany’s side lost 3-1.